No Mean City 2014 (Glasgow)

After last years success the team behind No Mean City are not resting on their laurels and an already sterling line up has been secured.

The Felice Brothers - O2 ABC, Thursday 28th August, 7pm

The Felice Brothers started their musical career performing at family barbeques; and have just released their sixth album. 

Described by American Songwriter as "challenging Americana that never takes its audience, or its influences, for granted", 

Favourite Waitress marks the first time the band ever recorded in a proper studio.

Nick Waterhouse  -  King Tut's, Thursday 28th August, 7pm
Californian guitarist Nick Waterhouse is known for a sounds rooted in rhythm & blues, jazz, and soul. 

On his latest record, Holly, "he hones a had-edged sound, full of nimble guitar licks, taut melodies and precise rhythm" (Paste Magazine).

St Paul and the Broken Bones

He cites the movie Chinatown as his main influence for the album, which is an ode to Los Angeles; and dedicated it to screenwriter Robert Towne.

St. Paul & The Broken Bones - Oran Mor, Monday 1st September, 7pm

St. Paul & The Broken Bones is a seven-piece soul band from Alabama who use vintage technology to recreate a 60s sound. 

After taking SXSW 2014 by storm, their debut album Half a City went to No.3 in the iTunes Chart.

Phillip Henry & Hannah Martin plus Sarah Hayes (Admiral Fallow) - O2 ABC2, Monday 1st September, 7pm
Glastonbury regulars Phillip Henry & Hannah Martin are one of the most innovative acts to appear on the folk scene in years; 

and after winning Best Duo at the BBC Folk Awards 2014, they are very hot property.

Willie Watson -  CCA on Friday 5th September, 7pm
Former Old Crow Medicine Show member, Willie Watson was once described as "Bob Dylan without the nasal whine or pretention". 

Although he did grow up listening to the likes of Dylan, it was a Leadbelly album that got him hooked on the folk style; as a result, 

his expert banjo and guitar playing will transport the listener to another time.

Frank O'Hagan plus Les Johnson & The Shiverin' Sheiks -  O2 ABC2, Friday 12th September, 7pm 

A regular at one of Glasgow's oldest pubs The Scotia, Frank O'Hagan has become one of the city's best-loved singers songwriters. 

He recently supported soul legend Mavis Staples.

Robert Altman's Nashville - Glasgow Film Theatre, Tuesday 16th September, 6pm
Incorporating film into the Festival for the first time, there will be a special screening of Nashville (1975) at the GFT on Tuesday 16th September at 6pm. 

Widely considered as some of Robert Altman's best work, the film takes a snapshot of people involved in the country music and gospel business in Nashville, Tennessee.

Natural Child plus Eugene Twist- O2 ABC2, Wednesday 17th September, 7pm
Rascals of the country scene, Natural Child 'Let the Good Times Roll' with comical lyrics, and a fun laid-back stage show. 

Indie Media Mag sums the boys up perfectly: "the three-man band blends country, rock and blues to make an elixir to cure all your musical ales (Sic)".

The Urban Voodoo Machine plus Dirty Diamond and the Gunslinger - O2 ABC2, Saturday 20th September, 7pm
The Urban Voodoo Machine market themselves, accurately, as bourbon soaked gypsy bop 'n' stroll. 

Urban Voodoo Machine

"The London-based nine-piece inhabit a weird, surreal Noo Orleans world where the ghosts of Dr. John, John Lee Hooker and vaudeville orchestras do battle with stomping rockabilly-style swamprock". (Louder Than War)

Christian Bland & the Revelators plus Al Lover -  O2 ABC2, Tuesday 23rd September, 7pm
Christian Bland is best known as the guitarist for The Black Angels (part of No Mean City in 2012) His solo project, 

Christian Bland and The Revelators highlights his signature sound and his contribution to one of modern psych-rock's biggest and best bands.

Chastity Brown -  O2 ABC2, Thursday 25th September, 7pm
The sound of Chastity Brown is a laid-back fusion of soul, jazz, blues and country. She has been compared to the likes of Tracy Chapman and Nina Simone; 

and Penny Black Music dubbed her last album, Back-Road Highways, "THE soul album of the year".

The Dunwells plus City of Lights - O2 ABC2, Saturday 27th September, 7pm
Leeds lads, The Dunwells, describe their sound as a "unique blend of emotionally driven, anthemic rock, featuring four part harmonies". 

Their influences vary from Foy Vance and Crowded House, to Fleet Foxes and Elbow.

In conversation with Jim Dead.

Tell us a bit about yourself Jim.

Early days are always the best place to start.

So when did you first feel drawn to music, and how did that then move on to you creating your own?

I guess it’s an old cliché, but I remember flicking through my parents’ record collection … it was quite an eclectic collection, too. I don’t suppose that I really became immersed in music until my early teens.

Then I was obsessed.

Spending hours putting together mixes for friends, when not sifting through the tapes and LPs that belonged to my parents and liberating the best tracks from their obscure and often disappointing albums.

I was the one in school preaching music. While I was sorta like the weird kid who liked ‘Heavy Metal’, folks were tuning into the mixes I was giving them.

We started hanging out together and eventually we got a band going.

We were dreadful. Couldn’t really play, but we stuck with it and we made quite a noise.

When you did start performing did you have a clear idea of what you were wanting to do, or like so many others has your experience been one that flows and reflects your own personal current tastes? The reason I ask is because I know so many solo artists who initially started off in pop punk acts as teenagers and then as their tastes in music widened they gravitated to more introspective ways to express themselves?

It’s been quite a journey to get to this point. I sang and occasionally played guitar in a fair few rock bands since 1997.

I was influenced by pretty much all of the alternative rock that I had been discovering since Nirvana.

Blind Melon, Screaming Trees, Jane’s Addiction etc.

Among the racks of CDs I had some Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Johnny Cash and Tom Waits and I started paying a great deal of attention to alternative Country around the end of 1998 or so after a friend had introduced me to Whiskeytown’s Strangers Almanac, American Music Club’s Mercury and Richard Buckner’s Bloomed.

Soon after that I was hooked on Joe Henry and soon that became the music I was immersed in.

That was shaping how I wrote songs and I brought that influence in to the bands. Lyrically I began exploring different themes – telling stories … telling my story and such things. It would be fair to say that I started going down a different path.

I wanted to create something dusty. Just strip the songs right back.

So far you have been self releasing your music. How is that? Do you like the level of artistic control it brings you?

How about financially. Does it feel restrictive in a sense?

I really don’t think there is an alternative. It’s a very rewarding process, really. Even if it does have some challenges. Being able to release what I want is, well, pretty nice. I mean, I could sit on the floor in my kitchen and record something.

Water running, some pots clanging and me telling some story and have that on an album and EP without any worry that someone somewhere at a label has decided to make an executive decision and discard it as useless.

It can be a challenge, though.

Especially from a financial point of view, cause I’m not really business minded.

That whole budgeting for recording, printing, the distribution, etc … it’s tough. I don’t think in terms of how many days I need in a studio, I think about how many songs I have. But I’ve been lucky enough to have met folks who have been willing to give their time and talent, too – I don’t reckon Go Tell, Ten Fires and I’m Not Lost would have turned out like they did without others investing in the projects as much as I did.

The last six months has seen you play some solid shows that are drawing some attention your way. Are you pleased about this?

Absolutely, yeah. It’s nice to know that there are people out there who not only appreciate what I’m doing, but actually get it.

They can buy into it.

Maybe it’s because I’ve played the right gigs, I don’t know.

Over the last few years I’ve been lucky enough to meet folks who are passionate about music and they’ve become real supporters of what I’m doing and they’ve been kind enough to write some generous words. I’ll not throw names at you, but these folks know who they are and their words mean a great deal. Cause I know that there’s integrity behind them.

Do you have a loose career plan? I hear people saying things like I am giving it five years and if I get nowhere them I am done. It sounds very much like it's not so much about the music when it is put like that.

I wouldn't say so, no. I haven't thought about making a career as a musician since ... well, I'd say since the early days of being in a band. I think it last crossed my mind in the early 2000s with my old band.

We were very much riding a wave for a while and talking about getting a label, etc. But we recorded an album and I don't think any of us was motivated enough to do anything with it.

Hell, we didn't even take it to sell at gigs.

I wouldn't say that going out on my own has never been about a career though.

I started doing this thing as a way to get stuff out my system and it evolved from that.

I've been lucky enough to stumble into some great opportunities - my songs have found their way into the right circles and at a grassroots level I've picked up some good reviews and supporters along the way - but, it's exhausting trying to make people listen.

I know that's an issue for a lot of musicians I know.

Maybe because of what we do? I don't know.

It's difficult to gain an audience. Don't get me wrong, I like to play these songs, but I can't always rely on friends to come support me all the time ...

So, while I don't have a career plan, I guess I kinda have something. I'll continue to write and record, but I think I need to think long and hard about removing myself from playing to an audience.

Have you any plans for touring? Does the idea of slinging your guitar on your back and heading out into the world sound appealing?

It's something I thought about, yeah ... and I was very close to putting it together last year.

half did.

Some emails to venues down south went unanswered and I kept looking at other venues.

Then other things cropped up and I started writing and recording what eventually became I'm Not Lost.

Right now what do you think about the musical landscape locally? There's been a great deal of discussions among artists and those who work in venues about how tough things are getting. Do you agree that live music is becoming an increasingly hard sell, and if so what are your thoughts?

I don't know. I've never been convinced that Glasgow had a great live music scene.

Let's be honest, there's this great tradition of having live music in pretty much every possible nook and cranny within the city, but whether people are actually interested enough to listen is another matter.

Most of the time there's a chance that the music just aint that good.

Does that constitute what's always considered as a vibrant musical landscape?

Don't get me wrong, I've heard a load of good bands and solo folks and some of my favourite acts are indies.

There's also a few great nights out there that you know you can rely on for a solid line-up.

But I don't think the landscape is in good shape.

It needs a shake.

I don't have the answers. I have ideas. But I've seen a few folks try to create something unique and see it crumble because there's too many free mediocre nights out there.

Nights where you can hear Paul Weller off-cuts, Wonderwall or Brown Eyed Girl.

Website - http://www.jimdead.com/

Merch - Music - http://jimdead.bandcamp.com/

Jon Snodgrass/Cory Branan/Roscoe Vacant and the Gantin Screichs - 08/06/12 - The Bay (Glasgow)

With the Olympic torch passing close by the streets are heavy with police motorbikes and riot vans.

The pavements are less busy with spectators.

It's getting late, and for many people all they are thinking about is getting home from work.

It's very obvious that the auspicious honour of bearing the torch doesn't have the same attraction when it slips down streets that aren't media hot spots.

There's no kids chasing the torch bearer, no pavements full of cheering supporters gurning and waving at the cameras, and instead there's just small pockets of what I presume are family and friends looking on.

No one seems to care that much about it at all.

Meanwhile mere yards away Roscoe Vacant, with three of his four Gantin' Scriechs, took to the stage in The Bay.

The setting isn't strange, but I'm feeling a bit discombobulated as the band are playing in front of windows where the days fading light is their backdrop.

This throws me a little as I'm used to seeing them perform in bars late at nights and in subterranean clubs that have never seen natural light.

Yet in some way it felt that the setting was adding a little frisson to proceedings.

Maybe a bit of Dylan Thomas as Roscoe and his band were unwittingly standing up to 'Rage, rage against the dying of the light'.

A modern day poet in his lyrical stance, Roscoe Vacant, is the sharp edge to social commentary, a folk punk with a a fistful of passionate songs to sing in a take no prisoners manner.

He's a mix of Robert Burns, the two Woody's, Strummer and Guthrie, and the product of a straight talking mining community that has shaped his views on everything that you could care to mention.

If you want a rant about the sectarian divide that blights the west coast of Scotland then he's the man to give you it.

Similarly if you want to address the failings of the unions over the last twenty odd years then he will also happily ring a song out about that to.

Some have claimed him to be an acquired taste, but with a bit of effort the rewards to listening to him are untold.

With his last album it could comfortably sit between the Pixies and the Pogues and you can't say that about many people.

Within the confines of the Bay it was refreshing to see the crowd watch the band with an open mind, and to go on and willingly show their appreciation of what they are doing.

After the set I was speaking to Roscoe who said that he felt happy with the performance, and from an artist is hyper self critical that was saying something.

I sincerely hope that this is the beginning of a run of gigs where he finds an audience who can tune into what he is doing.

The majority of people there were however attending the show to see Jon Snodgrass, and if I was to hazard a guess as to why then I'd lay money on it being down to the split 10”/Download that he did with Frank Turner.

The amount of Turner t-shirts and the regularity that his name trips from peoples lips make it a tad obvious.

Regardless of their reasons for making the effort to show up for the gig they were keen to be entertained as when both Jon and Cory wandered through the crowd to take their places behind the microphones the buzz was palpable.

I'd previously heard both while trawling the internet, and kicking about somewhere is a few Drag the River albums, but until now I had seen neither live.

My ignorance to what they do on stage actually extended to the point that I was under the impression that they were going to play separate sets, and maybe at some point of the night perform some songs together from their split release from 2009.

Instead they simply hung about on stage shoulder to shoulder and comfortably eased into songs as the mood took them.

It's a communal performance with each of them accompanying the other as required.

Jon would add some vocals and guitar to one of Cory's songs and likewise Cory would do the same for Jon.

It's an approach that could lend itself to being disjointed and problematic, but in this case it flowed rather naturally, and I presume that ease is rooted in the artistic relationship that the two men have.

For myself I was more impressed when Cory Branan took the lead, but that's not to say that Jon Snodgrass is a lesser talent, but more so an expression of my own personal tastes.

Both are of course exceptionally talented individuals.

It's just that the gruff tones of Cory's voice ticks more of the boxes for me.

Musically Jon is an extension of Drag the River minus the vocals of Chad Price.

There's no great leap in a different direction, and instead he's still meandering down the path without any distractions from forks in the road that are there.

Fans of the band would not be disappointed with the performance, and anyone being introduced to what Jon does should have been suitably impressed.

However for me it was Cory who stole the show.

He's the raconteur of the two and comes across like an amalgamation of every blue collar troubadour you could care to name.

It's entirely possible that I'm holding the minority view in my preference for Cory over Jon because as said the crowd was in the main there to see Jon play, but in all honestly there's a small voice whispering away in my ear that this was only down to the 'Turner' influence, and if Jon hadn't released that split with him then there would have been far fewer people willing to dip their toe in and sample what was on offer.

Regardless of that I sincerely hope that they liked what they seen in its totality, and will now use the experience as a catalyst for action and begin to keep an ear out for artists of a similar ilk.

Full kudos has to go to promoter 'Punk Rock Rammy' for making this gig a reality.

Well played.

Keep up to date with Punk Rock Rammy gigs here.